Halifax's The Regal Beagle Band makes plea for return of missing gear

This is the van belonging to The Regal Beagle Band from which $3500 worth of gear went missing sometime before Saturday afternoon. (The Regal Beagle Band/Facebook)

A Halifax rock-folk band is letting their voices be heard far and wide on social media after discovering on Saturday that $3,500 worth of gear went missing from their touring van, which was parked on Oxford Street.

"Most of the gear, except for the very heavy things were all gone," said bass player Kyle Findlay, who made the discovery.

Findlay said he was helping the band's drummer move apartments and went to the van to clear out some space. Two doors were unlocked and the back latch wasn't closed, but none of the windows were smashed, he said.

"That, you know, raised some questions for me," he said. "We're thinking the only thing that could have happened is they would have had a Slim Jim or one of the doors was left open."

Five pedals, a guitar amp, a bass amp head, drums and cymbals are on the list of stolen items, Findlay said, which is enough "absolutely essential" equipment to put booking future gigs on hold.

'We just want our gear back'

The band made a plea for the gear to be returned through its Facebook page. That post has since been shared almost 350 times and seen by about 15,000 people, Findlay said.

Some of the gear that went missing from the van included pedals, amps and drum equipment. (The Regal Beagle Band/Facebook)

But if the gear isn't returned, making the money to buy it all back won't be easy.

"We would be able to work on pushing the album to sell, but they stole the box with all our CDs as well, so we don't even have any merch anymore."

The band will be filing a police report since one of the missing pedals is a rental from Long & McQuade. But Findlay insists they don't want to press charges.

"We're not trying to make anyone scared or anything," he said. "We just want our gear back. That's all that matters. No questions asked."

Findlay said he's thankful some friends on the music scene have helped by offering gear "in a pinch," but for now, they're hoping whoever took the gear will have a change of heart.

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